|
tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption
CHAIN -- Steak
& Shake For thirteen years...from the first time I set foot a Michigan store...Steak n Shake was my favorite place in the world to eat. The chain that called itself "Unimproved since 1934" had the best chili, the best burgers, the best shakes. Noted fans of Steak n Shake include Roger Ebert. In sight, it must be right. Gus Belt founded Steak & Shake in 1934 in Normal, IL. (The original location, at 1219 S Main, remained a Steak n Shake for sixty plus years...the building is now Monical's Pizza.) "Steak" stood for "Steakburger". The slogan "In Sight It Must Be Right" nods to Belt's gimmick of wheeling in a barrel of T-bones, sirloins, and round steaks and grounding them into burgers right in front of the customers who ate at the counter overlooking the kitchen. That worked well to overcome fears some people had with hamburger being less than fit for human consumption. Hamburger was very new to the American diet, only coming into existence over the previous decade thanks to White Castle and Castle's many copycats. Steak & Shake was a hit and expansion and franchising followed. Curbside service was added due to inability to handle demand inside. Belt died in 1954 and his wife Edith took over. Expansion was halted. Edith sold the business in 1969. A brief expansion spurt occurred in the early 70's, then some closures. Two other major changes happened in the 70's...Headquarters moved to Indianapolis, and curbside service was replaced by the drive-thru. E W Kelley & Associates purchased Steak & Shake in 1981. Kelley was credited with revitalizing the chain. The company operated for many years as Consolidated Products and had a sister chain called Colorado Steakhouse. In 2001, the Colorado Steakhouse restaurants were discontinued and Consolidated Products became The Steak & Shake Company. Like many chains in this economy, Steak n Shake took a downturn in recent years that resulted in an opportunity for Sardar Biglari, whose hedge fund targeted restaurant chains heavy on company-owned locations, to accumulate stock and rile up shareholders with accusations the chain was mismanaged and not working to create "shareholder value". In 2008, he managed to get elected to the board, get elected chairman, and name himself CEO. His definition to create "shareholder value" initially was to close restaurants, limit operating hours, stop company expansion, sell real estate, and streamline the menu. Talk of future expansion in strip malls in more of a "Five Guys" format has been speculated but I haven't actually seen evidence of it happening. Biglari's REAL goal here is to become another Warren Buffet. He's turning Steak n Shake and Western Sizzlin...the other restaurant chain he managed to invade...into subsidiaries of what he hopes to call "Biglari Holdings". Steak n Shake's stock went through a 20-1 reverse stock split in anticipation of this move. Steak n Shake has table service delivering your food on real glass and china (yet another thing rumored to be on the chopping block). You can also fax in take-out orders, or hit the drive-thru. The core menu is burgers, chili items, and shakes. There's also a few sandwiches and fancy salads. Burgers and sandwiches now come with fries if you eat inside, a Biglari change made in 2008. Previous to this, you could "platter" any sandwich and add two sides that include said fries, plus baked beans (served in a cute little mini bean pot), a small salad, cottage cheese, coleslaw, soup, or chili. You can still add one of these to your sandwich order. The drive-thru has a different ala-carte pricing for the burgers. Actually, those prices are avaiable inside too if you specify you want the sandwiches ala-carte without fries. The chili can be had in a bowl or as part of a spaghetti dish called "Chili 3-Way" (or 4-way or 5-way), a dish made popular at chili parlors in Cincinnati (Steak n Shake's version is quite a bit different, though). It's a chili with a texture that comes off as "canned" more than "homemade", but it was my favorite chili anywhere for a long time. I've kind of lost my taste for it, though. The chili is made at each location, so bad or "weak" batches occasionally happen. You can buy a canned chili branded "Steak & Shake" at the restaurants and in some Midwestern supermarkets, but it's not even close. It's made by Castleberry, as we unfortunately found out during the great chili recall of 2007. Burgers are quick-seared on a hot grill. They are hot and juicy in a decadent sort of way. There's several versions on the menu (single, double, bacon, bacon cheddar, etc) which you can have topped with a variety of condiments. The Frisco Melt is a popular version of the burger...two patties on grilled and buttered sourdough slathered in thousand island dressing. The fries are shoestring thin and best smothered in liquid cheese. Milkshakes are hand-dipped and topped with whipped cream and a cherry. You can get hot fudge or caramel mixed in them. Steak n Shake's caramel apple milkshake...made available seasonally...is one of the most wonderful concoctions ever created by the hand of man. Oh...They have a hot dog...sorry, steak frank...now too. Don't expect Steak n Shake to be in new markets anytime soon, don't expect a lot of them to be open around the clock much longer, and expect some stores to hang a permanent "Closed" sign up for you to admire. Happy 75th freaking birthday, Steak n Shake. Click here to return to tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption |
